The city will be scheduling a public meeting regarding Fred Meyer’s plans to extensively remodel its Greenwood store at 100 NW 85th St.

Normally, a remodel to an existing building doesn’t warrant a public meeting, while more extensive redevelopment plans must go through the Design Review Board, as Fred Meyer’s previous proposal did.

However, a group of architects and designers, called Greenwood Deserves Better, recently collected about 75 signatures from neighbors of the Fred Meyer site and turned them in to the city, which forces a public meeting about the project. The city should be scheduling that meeting in the next few weeks.

Greenwood Deserves Better is concerned about Fred Meyer’s appeal of the city’s decision regarding environmental impacts of rezoning the site.

The city plans to rezone the 13+-acre portion of the Greenwood/Phinney Ridge Residential Urban Village, which includes the land under Fred Meyer and Greenwood Market, as well as some surrounding properties. The proposed zoning would change the site from C-1 40 (commercial zoning that is oriented more to big-box stores and car traffic, and allows for building heights up to 40 feet), to Neighborhood Commercial, which calls for more density, pedestrian access, and allows taller buildings, to encourage residential. The rezoning proposal breaks down the site and surrounding areas into four subareas with slightly different zoning for each. (See the map here and the city’s full report). The city held a public meeting on the proposal last summer; more than 100 neighbors gave input on the plan.

The Department of Planning & Development conducted a SEPA (State Environmental Policy Act) review, and determined that rezoning the site would have no significant environmental impacts (.pdf). But Fred Meyer is appealing that decision.

“They’re asking about transportation and utility impact topics,” Gordon Clowers, DPD Senior Urban Planner, explained. “That refers to our conclusion that there wouldn’t be significant impacts on those systems, and they want more information on how we made those decisions.”

A rezone appeal hearing is set for 12 p.m. Wednesday (tomorrow), at Seattle Municipal Tower, 700 5th Avenue, Room 4009. It is open to the public.

Greenwood Deserves Better (formerly called the Greater Greenwood Design Development Advocacy Group), is afraid that Fred Meyer is using the rezoning appeal as a delay tactic, to get their expansion plans approved before a rezone would affect them.

Fred Meyer had previously proposed a massive redevelopment of the site that included housing, a three-story parking garage, and other retail. That plan went through an extensive design and public review process. But the company abandoned that plan last August, saying it was just too expensive in the current economic climate. So, Fred Meyer put forth a new proposal to expand its current store by 55,305 square feet and remodel the Greenwood Market building into Fred Meyer’s home and garden center.

But then Fred Meyer found the Greenwood Market building to be in poor condition, so the plans changed yet again to the current proposal, which would expand the current Fred Meyer by 55,305 square feet. The Greenwood Market building would be demolished, and the Pacific Lock & Key kiosk in the parking lot would be moved to a different part of the site.

“Our group feels (that) is an underuse of the site, and an impact on the entire neighborhood,” Evan Bourquard, an architect and member of Greenwood Deserves Better, explained. “It really feels like they’re sneaking the permit into the city. They want non-significance on their project to increase the size by 55 percent. Even within the context of an addition, there are some areas of improvement. We’re just trying to get the city to force them to do the public meeting.”

Tom Gibbons, Fred Meyer’s Director of Real Estate, was unavailable for comment.

A developer is proposing a four-story building with three live-work units on the ground floor and 54 apartments above, on the corner of Greenwood Avenue North and North 107th Street, where the old 107th St. Car Wash used to be. The lot has been vacant for some time. The development will include spaces for 40 vehicles.

A Design Review Board meeting for the project is set for 6:30 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 26, at Ballard High School, 1418 NW 65th St., in the library. The public is invited to give their comments on the project at 301 N. 107th St.

Here’s a drawing of the Northwest elevation of the proposal. You can see the full proposal here.

GRE LL Greenwood LLC has applied for a permit to build 263 apartments in three buildings, plus a 212-stall underground parking garage, on the site of the old Leilani Lanes, at 10201 Greenwood Ave. N.

Each of the three buildings of Leilani Apartments would be four stories tall. The project also includes 10 live-work units (7,618 square feet) and ground floor retail (1,445 square feet) in one of the buildings, plus a large central courtyard.

The preferred option from the developer’s Department of Planning and Development land use application. Sketch courtesy of Grouparchitect.

According to the developer’s proposal, the units will be mostly studios and one-bedrooms.

You can see the entire application package here, including drawings and site elevations of the three proposed options. DPD will accept comments on the project, including any environmental concerns, through Aug. 24. You can comment online by going to the Notice of Application, then clicking “Comment on Application” near the top.

The longtime home of the Oroweat Bakery Outlet is coming another step closer to its appointment with a demolition crew, according to a project representative.

The building at 7009 Greenwood Ave. N. never was the prettiest of neighborhood architectural gems, but since the closure of the bakery at the end of last year, its walls have become an attractive magnet for taggers and handbill posters.

It’s now surrounded by a chainlink fence aimed at keeping them out.

Large trees fronting the street will be trimmed before the building is demolished.

Wednesday evening, we came across a group of people standing outside the building, including Attorney Mindy L. DeYoung, of Riddell Williams P.S., who is representing the owners.

DeYoung couldn’t be specific on the timing of the demolition, but said before that can happen, tree trimmers need to come out to cut back branches on the sidewalk trees which are now touching the building.

The property is part of the same Neighborhood Commerical zoning corridor as the nearby Fini Condos and the Greentree Condos, but DeYoung couldn’t say what will eventually be built.

Fred Meyer has applied once again to the Department of Planning and Development to redevelop its Greenwood store.

After plans for a major development – including a 160,000 square foot store, approximately 250 units of residential, 25,000 square feet of retail space for other businesses, and a three-story parking garage – were shelved last August because of the economy, Fred Meyer decided to do a down-to-the-studs remodel of the existing store, and planned to turn the Greenwood Market building into its home and garden center.

Those plans have now changed again after Fred Meyer decided that the building currently housing Greenwood Market was not suitable for remodeling.

The new plans instead call for the 20,950-square-foot Greenwood Market building to be demolished, and for the existing Fred Meyer store to expand by 55,305 square feet.

The 340-square-foot kiosk housing Pacific Lock & Key will be relocated from the middle of the site to the west side.

The new plans call for parking to be reconfigured for a total of 449 vehicles at and below grade.

The plans are subject to environmental review. Comments on the plan may be submitted online through July 27.

After months of discussion with residents, on Monday the Seattle City Council unanimously adopted a comprehensive update to how townhomes, apartments, row houses, and cottages are developed in the city’s low-rise multifamily zones. The idea is to spur more variety in multi-family housing, provide incentives for green building, and improve open space use and landscaping.

“Over the past decade, many townhouses popped up and multiplied in ways that caused unfortunate impacts to the surrounding communities,” Councilmember Sally J. Clark said in a press release. “We saw too few other housing styles and what we did see wasn’t welcomed by neighbors in most cases. I think these new rules will lead developers to build housing that fits better in our neighborhoods and creates a better home in which to live.”

The code creates a new Streamlined Design Review (SDR) process that will allow for closer scrutiny of project design for townhouses with three or more units (but not for row houses, cottages or apartments).

The new low-rise multifamily code also reduces the number of zones from five to three; requires at least 20 percent of street facing façades to be windows and doors; building materials must be varied; townhouse parking garages must be designed to fit large cars; parking will be underground or at the back of the lot; allows shared open space and larger usable common areas; waives parking requirements for projects in growth areas and within a quarter-mile of frequent transit service; and uses a flexible standard of measuring floor space, “floor area ratio,” rather than setback and lot coverage requirements.

The city says multi-family zones make up about 9 percent of the developable land in Seattle.

The city’s NW Design Review Board met Monday night for its first look at Taproot Theatre’s proposed expansion into the lot once occupied by the Eleanor Roosevelt Building, which was destroyed last year by an arsonist.

The theater’s 12,000-square-foot proposal includes a second performance space, offices, scene shop, and large lobby with a café. The entire length of the building on both floors would be windows, to allow in natural light. Large performance posters and movie props would be along the back wall of the lobby, and visible to passersby outside.

It also provides a corridor around the performance space to allow actors to enter at different places. There would be separate bathrooms for the public and the actors. A staircase in the southeast corner would be visible through the windows. Double walls would insulate the performance space from the street and scene shop noise.

In the proposal, both the lobby and performance space are two stories high. The second floor would include offices (staff currently rents office space a block away), the theater control room, and a rooftop deck.

The deck would be open to the sky, and the windows would not have glass. The deck would be available for staff to eat lunch or have meetings, and could also be rented out.

The canopy above the lobby entrance would be directly underneath the rooftop deck windows, and the canopy would be planted with greenery.

Taproot is asking for a variance to setback rules to build some kind of railing along 85th Street to keep patrons from accidentally getting too close to traffic. Producing Artistic Director Scott Nolte said patrons gather along the narrow sidewalk and don’t always realize how close they are to stepping off the curb.

The modular building would be built by Pacific Mobile Structures Inc. at their Marysville plant. It would arrive at the site about 98 percent complete, including pre-painted, and take only four to six weeks to assemble onsite. That means there would not be daily truck traffic like at a normal construction site.

The timeline calls for design to be complete by May 2011, site work to be completed in July, and the building to be installed in August, with a final move-in during September 2011.

Nolte said having a modular building allows them to reduce the amount of disruption to the neighborhood, as well as getting the building installed in between the theater’s performances. Cost was also a factor.

“We wanted to light up the sidewalk sooner rather than later, instead of waiting to raise $20 million to do our dream building,” Nolte said. He added that about half of the expected $3.2 million cost is in the bank.

He said other arts organizations and funders he’s talked to are excited about the modular concept, because of its cost and accelerated building schedule.

“This could be a game changer and a model for arts organizations around the country,” Nolte said.

The city’s Northwest Design Review Board will meet on Dec. 13 to discuss Taproot Theatre’s permit application to replace the adjacent Eleanor Roosevelt Building, which was destroyed by an arsonist last year.

The meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 13. The location is not set, but Design Review meetings are usually held at the Ballard High School Library, 1418 NW 65th St.

Taproot’s application is for a 12,000 square foot building. The Eleanor Roosevelt Building held four restaurants. Last month, Taproot’s Producing Artistic Director, Scott Nolte, said the theater was looking at a new building that would include a larger lobby for the theater, offices, and a restaurant of some kind.

The city’s Department of Planning and Development finally released its report on a proposal to rezone three areas in downtown Greenwood. The proposed zoning changes would have affected the Fred Meyer site on 85th Street, as well as surrounding residential streets. However, DPD’s report, released on Tuesday, proposes only moving forward with the rezone on the Fred Meyer site.

More than 100 neighbors gathered at an open house on June 29 to voice their opinions on the proposal, which included whether some surrounding residential streets should also be rezoned to allow for higher building limits.

The original idea was to rezone a 100-foot-deep swath across the street from Fred Meyer on NW 85th Street, NW 87th Street, and 3rd Avenue NW to allow for multi-family housing to provide a “step down” between the major development that Fred Meyer had proposed and the surrounding single-family neighborhood. Fred Meyer has since changed its mind about replacing the current store with a retail-residential development, and will instead do a down-to-the-studs remodel of the existing store, as well as the Greenwood Market building.

The comments at that June 29 meeting, and in an online survey, were overwhelming negative regarding the residential rezones. According to DPD’s report, more than 65 percent did not support rezoning Subarea 2 from Single-Family 5000 to allow for low-rise options.

And 61 percent did not support rezoning Subarea 3 from Neighborhood Commercial 40 to allow for heights of up to 65 feet.

The report says the city will “maintain future consideration” for rezoning those areas. For now, DPD proposes the City Council rezone Subarea 1 from car-oriented Commerical 1 with a 40-foot height limit to more pedestrian-oriented Neighborhood Commercial with a 65-foot height limit and a pedestrian zone overlay.

From the report:

This rezone represents an opportunity for a higher density, mixed‐use development including townhouses, condos, affordable apartments (required through incentive zoning with the height increase), that would be well‐supported in this area. DPD recommends increasing the height limit to 65 feet in order to encourage reuse of the site with housing while preserving the potential for retail tenants with high floor‐to‐ceiling heights to serve the neighborhood. Tall ground floors are usually a key driver for creating good retail space. Tenants, especially grocers, and developers typically need more than 40 feet of building height in order to
incorporate housing into a mixed use development. A height limit of 65 feet would maintain flexibility for a range of options in future redevelopment, while impacts from height, bulk and scale of a project can be mitigated through the design review process.

DPD will now work on an environmental determination to prepare legislation to rezone Subarea 1. After that there will be a three-week comment and appeal period before going to the City Council for a public hearing.

Representatives from Fred Meyer met with Greenwood-Phinney Chamber of Commerce members today to explain their decision to remodel, not redevelop, the current Fred Meyer store on NW 85th Street.

Fred Meyer Director of Real Estate Tom Gibbons and Public Affairs Director Melinda Merrill talk with Greenwood-Phinney Chamber of Commerce members.

“It was so far over budget,” Fred Meyer Public Affairs Director Melinda Merrill explained of the proposed redevelopment, which would have included a large one-story Fred Meyer partially underground, housing units, public open space and other retail space.

That plan had been in the works for years and been through a number of community meetings, which helped change it from a typical big box store to a pedestrian-friendly, mixed-use urban village site.

But, because of the logistics of building on top of the Greenwood Bog, as well as other economic factors, Fred Meyer decided last month that the project was unfeasible, “Given the state of the economy and the fact that you could build two Fred Meyers for the cost of this one store,” Fred Meyer Director of Real Estate Tom Gibbons said. “I really don’t think this interim fix is the best thing for Fred Meyer or the community. But it really came down to the economy.”

Fred Meyer now plans to do a down-to-the-studs remodel of its existing store, and will make the entire upper floor groceries (including a lot of organics), while the lower floor would be apparel. Fred Meyer also will take over the nearby Greenwood Market when its lease expires in October 2011, and will turn that building into a home and garden center.

Greenwood Shopping Center Inc. owns the land under both Fred Meyer and Greenwood Market, and decided to give Fred Meyer the lease for the Greenwood Market site when its lease expires.

Pacific Lock and Key currently sits in a small building in the parking lot between the two stores, and leases the space from Fred Meyer. Gibbons said he doesn’t yet know if Pacific Lock and Key will stay or go.

Gibbons hopes remodeling of the current Fred Meyer building would start in January or February 2011, with an opening date in October or November 2011.

“Ideally, we’d like to have the new Fred Meyer grocery store ready to open the day Greenwood Market closes,” Gibbons said, but he admits that timeline might be challenging.

Once Greenwood Market closes, Fred Meyer will remodel that building into its home and garden center, and will construct an outdoor walkway between the two buildings.

The newly remodeled Fred Meyer will look completely different from what the store looks like now.

“It will be a lovely store,” Merrill said. “It will not be what you have in the suburbs. It will not be a flat, empty parking lot. It will be a lovely store.”

Merrill passed out pictures of the company’s recently completed Hawthorne store in Portland as an example of what the new store would look like: large glass windows for natural light, wide open aisles, better lighting, a more inviting entrance, landscaped parking lots, and unique features like a sushi train.

Gibbons said Fred Meyer remodels all its stores on an eight- to 10-year cycle, and will revisit the redevelopment idea again within the next 10 years.

When asked before the meeting how much money Fred Meyer had spent over the years on the redevelopment plan, Gibbons said, “We probably don’t want to release that number.”

While their Hawthorne store has LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) certification, Gibbons said the Greenwood store likely would not be certified, but would have all the right elements.

“We paid a lot of money that could have been used on that project (Hawthorne) that just went for that name,” Gibbons said. Merrill added, “We can still do that without getting the plaque on the wall.”

Patty Leach from the Volunteers of America Community Resource Center, which houses the Greenwood Food Bank, said the food bank currently receives about 3,000 pounds of perishable food per week from Greenwood Market. Merrill said Fred Meyer has a food bank program in place for all its stores and will continue to provide food to the Greenwood Food Bank.

First on PhinneyWood: Fred Meyer Public Affairs Director Melinda Merrill just told PhinneyWood that the department store plans to do a major remodel of its existing Greenwood Fred Meyer store, rather than redevelop it into a retail and residential project.

The Seattle P.I.com broke the news on Monday that Fred Meyer had told the city that it was looking at remodeling instead of moving forward with the massive development that would have covered the entire site between 85th and 87th streets and 1st and 3rd avenues. In that article, Tom Gibbons, Fred Meyer’s Director of Real Estate, said the retailer hadn’t decided what to do.

Merrill tells PhinneyWood that Fred Meyer had planned to hold community meetings first to announce the plan, but that someone leaked the information.

“We’re very sorry that the information came out this way,” she said. “We really wanted to meet with the community first.”

Merrill said the latest design of the new store, which would have been built on a series of pilings to minimize disturbing the Greenwood Peat Bog, put the project about $13 million over budget. She said brand new stores – such as the one they built in Snohomish a few years ago – typically cost about $30 million. She said the price tag for the new Greenwood Fred Meyer was budgeted at about $54 million. (That doesn’t include the cost of about 250 housing units that developer Lorig & Associates planned to build, which would have brought the total amount to about $95 million for the entire development.)

The current Fred Meyer store will have a down-to-the-studs remodel and will house apparel and groceries. The building currently housing the Greenwood Market – whose lease ends in a few months at the end of 2011 – will also have a major remodel to house a Fred Meyer home and garden center. The remodel will cost about $15 million.

“We’re going to remodel the current store and look at this (redevelopment) again in eight to 10 years,” Merrill said. “It will be the coolest Fred Meyer around. It will have a lot of high-end products, a lot of cool things.”

Merrill said Fred Meyer will notify the community soon of public meetings about the project, as well as a remodeling schedule. She said Fred Meyer wouldn’t begin remodeling until at least the first of the year (which would give it a November 2011 opening), but that it could begin as late as the beginning of 2012, with an anticipated opening date of June 2012.

Two days ago the Seattle P.I. reported that Fred Meyer may be abandoning its plans to redevelop the site of the current store on 85th Street to include a massive one-level store, parking garage and housing units, and may instead simply remodel the existing store.

Fred Meyer officials have not yet responded to several messages left by PhinneyWood.

But this morning, Ted Panton, the lead architect for the project for GGLO, said that he and his team know just about as much as what’s been reported in the media. Panton, who lives in Phinney/Greenwood, said Fred Meyer hasn’t informed GGLO about their plans, and that he hasn’t worked on the project for about four months as it’s worked its way through the city permitting process.

The latest redevelopment plan had been to demolish the existing Fred Meyer and Greenwood Market. Both lease the land from Greenwood Shopping Center. Greenwood Market’s lease expires later this year, and Greenwood Shopping Center declined to renew it. Fred Meyer has a 20-year lease, with eight additional five-year renewals. Fred Meyer’s plan had been to build a 170,000-square-foot single-level store partly underground. A nearly 700-stall parking garage would be at the northeast corner, and about 250 housing units would be on the west side, plus about 25,000 square feet of retail space for other tenants along the south and east sides.

The city approved Fred Meyer’s basic design last September. At that time, Fred Meyer told the design review committee that single-story stores work best; while two-level stores bring in about 40 percent less revenue, cost more to staff and lose more to theft.

The P.I.’s story quoted city Department of Planning and Development staff as saying Fred Meyer’s new plan was to remodel the existing store to house groceries, jewelry and electronics, and to eventually turn the Greenwood Market site into a garden center.